HOLLYWOOD, THE NEW FRONT IN DRUGS WAR

White House Gives Movie Industry Lead Role In Fight Against Teenage
Abuse

The White House yesterday announced it is opening a new front in its
anti-drugs campaign, targeting Hollywood's entertainment industry in
an attempt to encourage films to promote its drugs-free message.

Undeterred by controversy earlier this year about his tactics for
persuading television companies to adopt a similar message, the White
House drugs "tsar", General Barry McCaffrey, confirmed that he intends
to "leverage popular movies and videos" to promote the White House
campaign against teenage drugs use.

"As powerful as television is, some experts believe that movies have
an even stronger impact on young people," Gen McCaffrey told a
congressional hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday.

"To impact film, the campaign will work closely with major studios, as
well as the individual writers and directors who are the driving force
behind what is seen on the screen," Gen McCaffrey told the House of
Representatives subcommittee on criminal justice and drug policy.

Money talks

The initiative comes in election year and will set the Clinton
administration at odds with some of its richest supporters. In
Hollywood, ever sensitive to any suggestion that its studios might be
being used for even a benevolent form of government propaganda, the
general's intervention produced a mixed response. The film industry
has been on the defensive since attacks by President Bill Clinton and
other senior politicians last year that it promoted violence and the
use of firearms.

Screenwriter Mike Gray, whose credits include The China Syndrome and
who is currently working on a screenplay about Colombian drug dealers,
said: "In the past Gen McCaffrey has shown little regard for the truth
when speaking about drug programmes, so it's unsettling to imagine
that he's going to insert his personal opinions into the movies. But
in this town money talks so if he's willing to back his opinions with
cash he'll find some sympathetic ears among the studio heads."

The White House's renewed drive to harness the support of the
entertainment industry for its anti-drugs message opens a fresh front
in the often bitter public argument about the methods which Gen
McCaffrey, a leading Gulf War commander, adopts in his relations with
the media.

Controversy has spiralled since a 1997 law authorised Gen McCaffrey to
spend up to $200m (UKP 3140m) a year promoting anti-drugs messages in
the US media.The law requires media outlets to take the messages at
half the normal market price for advertising time or space. After
industry protests, Gen McCaffrey struck a series of deals which
discharged the media from the requirements in return for the promotion
of "accurate depictions of drug-use issues".

In January, Gen McCaffrey was the target of fierce criticism from
several members of Congress, as well as civil liberties and writers'
organisations, after it was disclosed that he had secretly given the
television networks millions of dollars of financial credit in return
for putting prominent anti-drugs messages into episodes of some of
America's most popular primetime shows.

Informal messages

At the time, the White House said that its overt and covert television
campaigns had been so successful that, in any given week, the vast
majority of US teenagers were exposed to more than eight paid
anti-drugs advertisements and to many more informal messages inside
programme scripts.

In April, Gen McCaffrey was again under fire when he admitted that at
least six leading US national magazines and several newspapers had met
similar requirements by publishing articles that carried
government-approved anti-drugs messages.

Only now is Gen McCaffrey extending his campaign to Hollywood, which
has been a longtime source of big party political donations,
especially to President Clinton's Democratic party. But yesterday's
statement in Washington appears to signal the start of a tough battle.

In a section of his remarks titled "Focusing on Filmmakers", Gen
McCaffrey admitted that the long gestation process before a movie
finally makes it on to the screen means that "we may not see concrete
results for several years".

"Getting campaign messages in front of these individuals requires
working with the organisations that represent them, such as the
writers' and directors' guilds. We have begun this process, and will
continue our efforts through workshops, briefings, roundtables and
one-on-one conversations with industry leaders," Gen McCaffrey said.

Hollywood is sensitive to charges that it has glamorised drugs. The
heyday of drug-taking in the studios has ended and a number of its
senior executives have entered detoxification and 12-step programmes.
However, attention has been recently focused on the actor Robert
Downey Jnr, who is in jail for breach of parole violations in
connection with drug offences. He said his addiction was "like I've
got a shotgun in my mouth and I like the taste of gun metal."

Screenwriter Larry Gross, whose credits include 48 Hours and Geronimo: an
American Legend, said that at least Gen McCaffrey's intervention would bring
the issue of censorship and propaganda into the open.

"Censorship to try and create a squeaky-clean illusory image is a
prevalent fact in Hollywood already," said Mr Gross. "Nothing that
Barry McCaffrey could do could be as profound a form of censorship as
the marketplace already is." He said that if the government entered
the area people were at least aware of what was going on. "That would
be interesting."

The message in the medium

The story of the White House's secret deal with leading US television
networks to infiltrate aggressive anti-drugs propaganda into some of
the nation's most popular television shows was exposed in the online
magazine Salon earlier this year.

Salon reported that the networks had quietly collaborated with the
White House - including allowing government officials to review
scripts of television programmes before they were broadcast. In
return, the White House drug "tsar", General Barry McCaffrey, allowed
the networks to get out of a legal obligation to provide $22m
(UKP 314.5m) of primetime public service anti-drugs advertising slots.

The deal meant that the networks were able to re-sell the advertising
time at much higher prices, allowing them to cash in on America's
dot.com advertising boom.

ER , Chicago Hope and Beverly Hills 90210 were among at least two
dozen primetime shows whose scripts were amended to convey strong
anti-drugs messages in line with Clinton administration policy.

"Script changes would be discussed between the [White House's] office
of national drug control policy and the show - negotiated," a
television network executive was quoted as saying.

"The White House did view scripts. They did sign off on them - they
read scripts, yes," said a Warner Brothers executive, Rick Mater.

Few of the scriptwriters for the shows involved in the deal were aware
of the government involvement and the Salon revelations caused outrage.

"If the public begins to believe that a message is only being put
forward because of financial remuneration, there's a strong chance of
undermining the value of all our messages," said the ER producer John
Wells.

The furore caused the White House to step back from its controversial
involvement, saying that in future it would only review programmes for
credit after they had been publicly broadcast. So far, 109 television
episodes have been awarded credit.

In recent months several network favourites have contained strong
anti-drugs themes, including Touched by an Angel , The Cosby Show ,
Providence and The Wayans Bros . An episode of Tim Allen's popular
Home Improvement sitcom contained a scene in which the parents
confronted their oldest son about smoking marijuana.